118 



Canadian Forestry Journal, Jtdy, 1915 



Methods of Tree Doctoring 



How to distinguish good repairing from bad — ^An expert's explana- 

 tion of an over-talked science 



By B. R. Morton, B. Sc. F. 



There are many reliable tree repair- 

 ing firms doing work throughout the 

 towns and cities of Canada, but un- 

 fortunately for the tree-owner and the 

 trees themselves there are also many 

 men contracting to do this work who 

 are far from qualified, relying largely 

 upon the owner's ignorance. Hence 

 the work they do is often worse than 

 useless. It is hoped therefore that the 

 following lines will be of some assist- 

 ance, first to the tree owner who is 

 hiring repairers and desires to know 

 whether or not the work is being done 

 thoroughly and, second, to the man 

 who is not in a position to employ a 

 reliable repairer and finds it neces- 

 sary to do the work himself. 



The fundamental principles of tree 

 repairing may be summed up as fol- 

 lows : 



1. The removal of all decayed, 

 dead or diseased portions of the tree. 



2. Completely sterilizing and wa- 

 terproofing all freshly cut surfaces. 



3. Bolting and strengthening when 

 necessary. 



4. Filling in the cavities and leav- 

 ing the work in such a condition that 

 it will heal rapidly. 



All dead, diseased or decayed por- 

 tions of the tree should be removed. 

 Large limbs which are too far de- 

 cayed to make it w^orth while trying 

 to save should be cut off. 



In the removal of limbs care should 

 be taken to leave a clean smooth cut 

 close to the trunk or portion from 

 which it branches and not leave a pro- 

 jecting stub the end of which may 

 never properly heal over. Cuts made 

 close to the trunk will heal over in 

 inuch less time. In the case of a large 

 limb it will be necessary to take pre- 



cautions to prevent it from dropping 

 when only half cut through and rip- 

 ping with it a portion of the trunk 

 and bark. To overcome this the limb 

 should l)e supported until entirely cut 

 oft', or better, first remove a portion of 

 it in order to leave a good sized stub 

 and then remove the stub. 

 Removing Decay. 



All decayed or diseased matter 

 which cannot be removed by pruning 

 must be completel}' cut out. Decay or 

 rot is the result of the growth of fungi 

 which have gained entrance to the 

 tree through an opening in the bark, 

 usually the result of a wound, and 

 then slowly spread in all directions 

 throughout the wood. To prevent 

 further spreading all decayed and dis- 

 eased insect-eaten and discolored 

 wood must be removed. The opening 

 at which the rot-producing fungus has 

 obtained entrance is usually visible on 

 the outside. It is often very small and 

 is not always an indication of the ex- 

 tent to which the decay may have 

 spread within. 



To properly remove the diseased 

 portion of a trunk it may be necessary 

 to make several openings or even cut 

 out a considerable portion of the side 

 of the trunk. HoAvever, openings 

 should be kept as small as possil)le. 

 Long narrow or small oval vertical 

 openings or wounds will heal more 

 rapidly than those of any other shape. 

 Two socket-handled gouges (34 and 1 

 inch wide), a chisel, a mallet, a knife, 

 a saw and a ladder are about all the 

 tools needed. 



How to Treat Wounds. 

 The edges of the bark bordering on 

 Vv'ounds should be smoothed oft' with a 



